PREVALENCE OF ABDOMINAL AORTIC-ANEURYSMS IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS

Although several studies describe the prevalence of coronary artery di sease in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), the opposite relationship is virtually unexplored. It is the purpose of this study to determine the prevalence of AAA in patients with severe coronary ar tery disease undergoing bypass grafting (CABG). Patients scheduled for elective CABG underwent aortic ultrasound (US) preoperatively. A cont rol group of patients without cardiovascular disease also underwent US . An AAA was defined as a maximal diameter greater than or equal to 3. 0 cm. US was performed on 192 CABG patients and 140 controls. The over all prevalence (previously repaired AAA and new cases) of AAA in CABG patients was 18.2%. The prevalence of new cases of AAA was 13.0% compa red to 1.4% in controls (p = 0.0001). Ten patients had an AAA greater than 5.0 cm in size (5.2%). Logistic regression identified age greater than or equal to 65 years and smoking as significant risk factors for AAA in the CABG population. The higher prevalence of AAA in CABG pati ents was confirmed by a case-control analysis of 73 age-matched patien ts. This study provides the first convincing evidence that the prevale nce of AAA is higher in patients undergoing CABG than in the control p opulation in Vermont. Consideration should be given to screening patie nts for AAA who are undergoing CABG, particularly older, smoking males .